Decades
by Smart Alex
Summary: Imagine yourself in ten years, the question on the entrance exam begins. She knows this one, and she knows the answer.


**Decades**

_Imagine yourself in ten years_, the question on the entrance exam begins.

She knows this one. She knows it because it's easy, and it's familiar because she remembers playing that game with her mother. They would sit together, on those rare days when her mother didn't have to work, and speculate about the future.

"In ten years, where would you be?" Haruhi would ask.  
Her mother would pretend to seriously consider an answer. "Well.. let's see.. I think I would be right here, by you. And where will you be, Haruhi?"  
"Here," Haruhi would say, and she would climb into her mother's lap. "Right here, Mama!"

"Imagine yourself in ten years," she murmurs.

She finishes the exam with plenty of time left over.

-

_In ten years, I will be an Ouran alumni_, she tells herself as she collects her books.

"I will.." she repeats, looking at herself in the mirror. It's really too bad that she lost her contacts the day before school, but there isn't much she can do about that, now.

At least her hair's manageable for once.

-

In ten years there will be no more Host Club.

"No more," she says, and pushes away the hands of the spoiled rich boys who have taken her on as a pet project and are attempting to feed her. "I have my own lunch, thank you."

"But Haruhiiii," their leader says mournfully. "You've never had a lunch like this, being a commoner, and it's so delicious.."

In ten years there will be no more Host Club, she will never have to see these deranged people again, and she will be filthy rich, and--

"Honestly, I'm fine," she says, pushing away yet another hand.

-

"Has it really been ten years?" Kaoru wonders out loud, and drapes himself over Hikaru's shoulder.

"You know, it has been.." Hikaru replies, and leans over a little bit more. "Ten years since that fateful day, when that girl..."

"You guys can get off now," Haruhi announces. Reluctantly, Hikaru unwinds himself from her neck, and Kaoru loosens his grip on his twin.

"Aren't you even a little bit curious?" they whine.

"Not really," Haruhi replies, and begins to read again.

The twins' faces fall, and they settle themselves back into their own desks, with their own books open to review. They don't concentrate, though, and instead look outside wistfully at the snow that falls.

_Maybe you'd better study, if you want to pass this test and not be expelled_, a voice in her head suggests, and Haruhi wholeheartedly agrees.

-

"Ten years from now we won't be together anymore," Honey-sempai states. "We're all going to be grown up."

They all look at him, a short boy clutching a stuffed rabbit, and he appears to be dead serious. Mori-sempai, on the other hand, seems quite content.

"We should make the best of the time we have now, then," he suggests, words sounding like flowers.

None of them say another word, until Tamaki takes a deep breath and bellows: "NEKOZAWA!"

-

Kyoya's fingers fly over the keys, and although she knows the keys are being pressed, they seem to make no sound. No change. This is the advantage in owned a high-quality laptop, she supposes.

The new website pours out from underneath his fingers, in lines of words and strange characters that she doesn't understand. Graphics arrive, neatly sorted into email-folders. The lines add up into pages of material, and that material goes on the internet. As do a thousand photocopies of Haruhi playing the part of 'The Littlest Flower' in her third-grade school play.

She doesn't say anything, but she decides that in ten years time, Kyoya will either be called a genius, or insane.

-

In ten years she will almost be a lawyer, and she'll be done with Ouran. She won't have to worry about these stupid boys, and their stupid choices, and their stupid habits. In ten years she'll be able to wear a dress without anyone staring, and she'll eat tuna whenever she wants, wherever she wants.

But none of that matters, ultimately. It's just a game. It's pretend, make-believe.

A lot can change in ten years.

A lot can change in ten minutes.

Or seconds.

Or...

-

_Where would you be in ten years, Haruhi?_

"Right here," she laughs. "Right here, beside you."

* * *

**author's notes**: First Ouran fic, originally written for a contest/challenge -- 'In Ten Years../Reunion'. I'll miss this series a lot. :(


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